The Saturn square Uranus transit which began in 2020 and ends this year, has been at the forefront of my everyday life. Especially because the end of a world transit is what is considered to be a "sunset." Just as an actual sunset is vibrant and powerful, so is an astrological transit at the end of its cycle.
Thus, we've entered into a period of intensification. A time in which the archetype of Saturn (tradition, structure, limitation) is coming face-to-face with the archetype of Uranus (innovation, spontaneity, liberation).
So let's take a look at an interesting story unfolding right now.
The dating app Tinder just released a $500/month subscription called Tinder Select. Users of this membership receive a number of perks from direct messaging before even getting matched to "select mode" where members can see and be seen by the app’s most sought-after profiles for "more exceptional connections."
Tinder first launched in 2012 just as the Uranus-Pluto transit was coming into an exact alignment. One major Uranus-Pluto theme is sexual liberation. The last time Uranus and Pluto were in a major alignment was in the 1960s, and of course we all know what that decade was about: sexual freedom.
So it was very interesting to see that dating apps took off during this most recent Uranus-Pluto transit which began in 2007 and ended in 2020.
Finding a partner was never easier. He or she was literally at the tip of your fingers.
But along with all its novelty and excitement came the shadow, disappointment and despair.
Just as the Uranus-Pluto transit was coming to an end, the world began to wake up (especially conservatives) to the fact that too much choice was stifling young people's capacity to enter into a long-term partnership.
I mean this is the classic philosophical concept which Jean Paul Satre called nausea––when we are confronted with endless choices we feel existentially nauseated.
The end of the Uranus-Pluto alignment was met with the tough Saturn-Pluto transit, which generally coincides with a climate of traditional values and authoritarian impulses.
So it was no coincidence that just as the Saturn-Pluto transit was peaking in 2020, the hit Netflix show "Indian Matchmaking" launched.
Right back to the traditional way.
Indian Matchmaking focused on the manual process of making personally tailored and curated matches through the medium of Aunty Sima.
To witness an old Indian system come to the forefront of global culture was a phenomenal Saturn-Pluto experience.
It's important to note that generally matchmakers cost between $1000 –– $100,000.
So for an app like Tinder, it is a massive market to tap into.
What is so Saturn-Uranus about this piece of news is that the technology app (Uranus) is integrating a traditional (Saturn) subscription model. As well as bringing a sense of exclusivity (Saturn) to the sea of choice (Uranus).
It will be interesting to track how the dating culture evolves as we continue to unfold into the softer alignment of the current Uranus trine Pluto. I have no doubt we'll see a similar intensity as the 1960s and 2010s reverberate between 2041 and 2052 during the next major alignment of the Uranus-Pluto opposition.